Chapter 11: The Man Who Came Back
She showed Julian the text at seven the next morning.
He read it once.
His jaw set.
He handed the phone to Grace Holloway, who was already seated at the conference table with a yellow legal pad and the expression of someone who had been waiting for exactly this.
"Unknown number," Grace said.
"We can subpoena the carrier records.
It'll take a few days, but if it traces to Carter—"
"It traces to Carter," Julian said.
"He's the only one who knew we were looking."
"Who in the building warned him?" Abby asked.
Marcus came in from the doorway.
He set a printout on the table.
"The vendor files were accessed at eleven fifty-one last night.
After Abby and I had already left.
The access came from a terminal registered to the facilities coordinator.
His name is Greg Paulson.
He's been with the building for seven years."
Julian looked at the printout.
"Carter's man."
"They overlapped for four years," Marcus said.
"I checked their calendar history.
Lunch meetings.
Twice a month, regular as a contract renewal."
Grace wrote something on her pad.
"We'll need Paulson's full access history.
And Carter's phone records if we can get them through the carrier subpoena."
"Carter will move fast," Julian said.
"If he thinks we're building a case, he'll try to clean the paper trail."
"The shell company records are already filed with the state," Abby said.
"He can't undo those.
And the vendor invoices are in your accounting system — he doesn't have access to delete them now that he's gone."
Grace looked at Abby.
"You've thought about this."
"I couldn't sleep," Abby said.
Grace almost smiled.
She turned back to Julian.
"I can file for a civil fraud claim within forty-eight hours.
If the carrier records confirm the text came from Carter, we can add harassment.
And if Paulson cooperated in concealing the ongoing fraud, he has exposure too."
"File it," Julian said.
"There's one more thing." Grace set her pen down.
"Carter's attorney will almost certainly argue the NDA as a shield.
We'll need to demonstrate that the conduct continued after the agreement was signed.
Do you have invoice records going back to the signing date?"
"Yes," Marcus said.
"I pulled them last night.
The overcharges continued without interruption.
The first invoice after the NDA signing date was submitted eleven days later."
Grace picked her pen back up.
"Then the NDA is void as to the ongoing conduct.
He signed it knowing the fraud was still active.
That's not a settlement — that's concealment."
The room was quiet for a moment.
Julian looked at Abby.
"He texted you to frighten you off."
"Yes," she said.
"Did it work?"
She looked at the phone, still sitting on the table in front of Grace.
At the message on the screen.
*You should have taken the money when you had the chance.*
"No," she said.
"It made me angry."
Julian nodded once.
He looked at Grace.
"How do we handle Paulson?"
"Quietly," Grace said.
"Don't let him know we have the access logs yet.
Let him think he's still in place.
If Carter contacts him again, we want that communication on record."
"And Carter himself?" Julian asked.
Grace gathered her papers.
"Leave Carter to me."
She stood, shook Julian's hand, nodded to Abby and Marcus, and walked out.
The three of them sat in the quiet conference room.
"He's going to escalate," Marcus said.
"The text was a warning.
If the warning doesn't work—"
"He'll try something else," Julian said.
Abby looked at the phone.
"He said I should have taken the money."
"He was watching you," Julian said.
His voice was flat.
"He still has access to the building's security feed through Paulson."
Abby absorbed that.
"He saw the test," she said.
"Yes."
"He saw me walk away."
"Yes."
She looked at Julian.
"And he's been in this building for years.
Which means he knows about the test.
He knows what you do with people who pass."
Julian was very still.
"He's not just angry that I found the contracts," Abby said slowly.
"He's angry because he knows what I mean to you now.
He thinks if he frightens me away—"
"You disappear," Julian said.
"And the investigation loses its momentum."
"And he walks away again," Abby finished.
The room held that thought for a moment.
Then Julian picked up his phone and made a call.
"I need building security to revoke Greg Paulson's system access," he said.
"Effective immediately.
Yes.
All systems." He paused.
"Tell him there's a routine audit.
Don't give him time to make a call first."
He hung up.
He looked at Abby.
"You're not going anywhere," he said.
It was not a question.
"No," she said.
"I'm not."
Outside the conference room window, the city moved in its ordinary morning way — cabs and pedestrians and the slow grind of a delivery truck on the avenue below.
Inside, something had shifted.
May you like
Carter Blaine had made a mistake.
He had sent that text to the wrong woman.
